WGN Authority Report: September 12th

The past week was one of the most action packed esports weekends in this entire calendar year. There was such a wide variety of high level competitions taking place that every esports fan had some incredible action to enjoy. Between a premier CS:GO event and Overwatch World Cup Qualifiers there is a lot to delve into.

Overwatch World Cup

The second of four qualifying stages for the upcoming Overwatch World Cup took place this past weekend and was easily the most predictable of the upcoming tournament qualifiers. Containing both the United States and Canada, two international Overwatch powerhouses, the two were able to stomp the remainder of the group with relative ease.

Canada didn’t drop a single match against any other nation, while Brazil was able to take a single map off the American squad. The performance of both teams throughout the group helped further set the stage for their inevitable meeting on the final day of action.

The series between the two giants closed out the weekend and America sprung out to an early two game lead with narrow victories on Oasis and King’s Row. Canada looked poised to turn things around after a strong showing on Temple of Anubis earned them a victory Ultimately however the Americans would close things out in game 4 and take the top spot in the group themselves. Overall the series was an incredible display of Overwatch talent – if you missed it you can watch the access the full VoD here.

This means both Canada and America will join South Korea and Finland, the victors from the first qualifier, in the final stage of the Overwatch World Cup. America will be looking to improve upon their top four finish from last year after an encounter with South Korea in the semi finals sent them earlier than they would have liked. Canada too will be seeking revenge on the South Koreans for their loss in last year’s finals – having made it all the way there in the previous year the only way to improve is by winning the whole thing.

CS:GO FACEIT London Major

24 of the world’s premier Counter Strike teams have gathered in London and will remain there until a FACEIT champion is crowned on September 23rd.

The first stage of the event, the New Challengers Stage, took place this past week. It took the bottom 16 teams in the tournament by seed and pitted them against each other to determine the 8 teams that would advance to the New Legends Stage that begins today.

Team Liquid and Ninjas in Pyjamas advanced through the New Challengers Stage in the top spots, exiting with perfect 3-0 records. Other notable names such as Astralis, Complexity and Vega Squadron were also able to advance to the following stage of the event.

Eliminated early from the competition were OpTic, Gambit Gaming, Rogue, Renegades and Virtus Pro, who surprisingly exited the event in last place failing to win a single match.

While the teams that made it through to the next stage of the competition were able to rejoice momentarily things will get significantly more difficult from here. Awaiting them are some of the current top ranked teams in the world, including the likes of Cloud9, FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, mousesports, Fnatic and G2 Esports.

If you’re a fan of CS:GO or high level FPS action, the following weeks will be filled with matches you won’t want to miss. You can catch the New Legends Stage September 12-16th and the final Champions Stage September 20-23rd live on the official Twitch broadcast, and view the official Liquipedia page for full results, bracket information, VoDs, schedules and more. We’ll also be keeping you updated on this premier event.